3D Modeling a Nordic CERN

The ESS, in partnership with 17 other European countries, plans to build the world’s leading facility for neutron research in Lund, Sweden. Call it a Nordic CERN. CATIA 3D modeling and ENOVIA’s PLM platform are used in the process.

It may not be a household name, yet, but the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden, aims to be a leading research facility in the field of material research in the coming years. In general, spallation is a process in which fragments of material (spall) are ejected from a body due to impact or stress. In nuclear physics, spallation is the process in which a heavy nucleus emits a large number of neutrons as a result of being hit by a high-energy particle. Specifically, the ESS, in partnership with 17 other European countries, plans to build and operate the world’s leading facility for neutron research by 2019. Call it a Nordic CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research). In such a global, interactional and academic environment, document handling is of the upmost importance.

So far, TechniaTranscat (previously Technia) and its partners have implemented ENOVIA and CATIA software to track Word and PDF documents (ENOVIA) and to track 3D modeling of the new facility, (CATIA), for electrical, piping and tubing diagrams.

A complex project

“The European Spallation Source is a complex project that brings together scientific and industrial partners from more than 17 different countries. CATIA and ENOVIA are proven systems that we believe will allow us to share and update documents with all our partners in many different formats,” says Colin Carlile, Chief Executive and Director General of the European Spallation Source ESS AB. “Now we have over 300 users, but in five years we anticipate over 1,000 users. It is a work in progress, but we are constantly updating.”

In laymen’s terms, ESS is basically a particle accelerator that uses neutrons to analyze different materials. Like a super microscope, ESS will use neutrons to probe various materials to enable scientific analysis.

Peeking at the future

Possible benefits of the ESS linear accelerator include major medical advancesin ageing and health developments, advances in sustainable and renewable technologies, foodstuffs, IT, materials and engineering science, and archeology. ESS will also conduct other experiments in quantum physics, biomaterials, and nano-sciences.

The ESS organization currently employs over 100 scientists, engineers and administrative staff in Lund, Sweden. Cooperation with 100 other physicists around the world, together with other collaborative agreements with labs in Switzerland and Japan aim to make the new lab operational by 2019. Plans are to start construction in Lund in early 2013.

“ESS will enhance our understanding of nature. The results of research from ESS will be significant for future scientific and industrial progress,” says Carlile.

From design to reality

The ESS research facility will be located in Lund, Sweden, co-hosted by both Sweden and Denmark, and will be funded and operated by a partnership of 17 European countries. The ESS and its partners are currently engaged in a technical design review that will act as the blueprint for the construction of the ESS to start in 2013 and to become operational by 2019.

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